Showing posts with label cosmetics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cosmetics. Show all posts

Monday, October 19, 2009


Now, we see the other poisons in our houses.

What are the poisons expected in our houses?

These poisons are the substances in our building materials, furniture, soap, cosmetics, substances used to clean the house, disinfections solutions, electronic articles, vessels made up of aluminium, nickel jewellery and nicotine due to smoking. Pesticides are also used in the household to kill mosquitoes or cockroaches. The following substances are mostly used:

Asbestos - mixed with plastic to strengthen them and also mixed with cement to prevent fire spreading. Lung cancer is seen normally after 45 years. All the asbestos buildings are being demolished now in Germany.

Formaldehyde - paints, tobacco smoke and few other plastic products contain formaldehyde. When enough contact is there, irritation of mucus, headache and allergy are possible.

Isothiocyanate - it is present in polyester covering of the floor and polyurethane foam. Strong inhalation leads to irritation of the eyes and isothiocyanate asthma.
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Solvents - solvents are necessary for the production of gum, paints, artificial leather, cleaning solution for the house and industry etc. Contact or breathing the vapour brings health problems.

Ozone - nowadays it comes from laser printers and Xerox copying machines and can make irritation of the eyes.

Phenols - present in paints and may affect liver and kidney.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons - found in tobacco smoke, fried meats and chimney smoke of industries or burning wastes can cause cancer.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) - floor spreads and foams contain this. They (don’t forget PCBs are a group of 209 organochlorine chemicals) are present in the white paper it is formed during the bleaching process with chlorine. Chlorine is also used to bleach the sanitary napkins for women and these PCBs too. A longer contact with PCBs may spoil the liver.

Organochlorine compounds as pesticides, fungicides etc.

Leather covered furniture – leather tanning is carried out using more than 40 different chemicals and other treatments. Even nowadays pentachlorophenol is used in leather tanning in several countries. The allowed amount is 5 mg/kg. But in several cases it exceeded this limit and persons who have problem with detoxification become sick and this is an environmental illness.

Case study: One of my colleagues bought a new leather sofa set and was very happy. In the weekend she invited her friend and her husband for coffee and cake in the afternoon. All were sitting in the sofa for more than three hours. The visiting woman was not feeling well. She had skin reaction, headache and other neurological problems. She went to the doctor and the problems were still there. Then they came to me and after a personal talk with that woman I ordered the estimation of Pentachlorophenol in her blood. It was 5 times more than the reference value. The owner of the sofa had very low pentachlorophenol in her blood. I have asked the colleague to rub some cotton wool strongly on the side of the sofa and bring it to me. We analysed this and also found very high amount of pentachlorophenol. The sofas were produced in a foreign country. The furniture shop has taken back the sofas and she could select a different one. This is possible in Germany even today.

But the important thing what we must learn from this is, 4 persons were sitting on the sofas. Only one became sick and all the others were not affected. Only in that woman the detoxification system was not working properly and so the problem of excretion from the body and the environmental sickness.

If there is any unexplainable sickness always think about the environmental factors also.

Think of the old North Arcot district with all its leather tanning industries where even the tender coconuts had all these environmental poisons long ago.

Apart from these, metals like aluminium, cadmium, lead, nickel, palladium and others are in our house. Have you seen small children standing in front of the window and licking the painted wood? These paints contain many metals including lead. The taste of the lead is sweet and so the children like this taste. Be careful and intervene immediately in such conditions. Lead is not dangerous to adults, but it makes children bad in their brain work, thus bad ranks in the school. WHO has studied with tens of thousands school going children and have proved it very clearly. This means as long as we are healthy and our detoxification system is working properly, there will be no problem for us. When there is disorder in our detoxification system or we fail to support our system with proper food then, we have really a problem. Individual food is very important here.

Can I do anything to reduce these environmental pollutants in the house?

Don't use too many chemicals and solvents.
Yes, you can do a lot. You can aerate the house by opening the windows regularly. With a wet cloth you can clean the floors to minimise the fine dust particles. Vacuum cleaning will not help because it will scatter the fine dust more.

But, once your house is contaminated with some chemical poison there is no chance to clean it because of the equilibrium between the walls and the air. In that case an expert must renew the walls to remove the poisons.

Why is vacuum cleaning not advisable?

When you do vacuum cleaning there should be no children in that room in order to avoid exposition from dust, excrements of small insects, bacteria and viruses. Small children are normally about 60 to 80 cm tall and in this height also the fine dust and others are scattered. The small children who then get all the dust and poisons excessively become sick. This is one of the reasons of your child’s allergy and other environmental sickness. The enemies of our health are everywhere.

Is there any relationship between dress and environmental poisons?

The colour in our dress may contain azo-dyes which are considered cancerous. If we sweat very much, then the possibility is more to get these substances in our body. Salicylic acid, formaldehyde, metal salts, particularly lead, chromium, nickel and sulphonamide are used to conserve the textiles against insects as well as to give good colours. These could bring contact allergies. The alternative is paraffin emulsion but prolonged contact may cause skin irritation.

Costly wool carpets are soaked in pesticide solution before it is sold. Never buy these.

How did the human beings select their food in the past when they had no chance to analyse?

It was not easy for them to select the correct food, but they observed everything very keenly and carefully. In course of time, sometimes they took years or decades to arrive to the correct conclusion.

In my observation I have seen one thing very carefully when my mother or sister put the mustard seeds in the hot oil, it bursted out and spreaded everywhere, but I could never get an explanation for that. When I came to Germany I had seen that they ate mustard sauce, mild, middle, hot or sweet with grilled pork or meat or sausages. When they ate sausages either in the home or outside, mustard paste was taken in enough quantity. I started to think about our bursting mustard. I found later the reason that mustard neutralises the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) released when fat is burnt at high temperature. It is produced when from the grilled pork the fat drops in the fire, it burns there and produces the PAHs. This happened in a different way in our frying pan but the result was always the same.

The substance which neutralised the poisons was present inside the mustard. They made it a paste and we allowed it to burst, the purpose was same, if we do not break it, the mustard seeds will be excreted along with the faecal waste without being digested. I asked several old Germans to have an explanation for this. The oldest, 96 years old, told me that he had been eating mustard paste since his childhood. Look, how intelligent were our forefathers. They have think and observe much and now we need not think – the industry and others are thinking for us – and we become sick without knowing why. Ask always why and try to find out the answer also.

Why does new furniture smell bad?

Many chemicals are used to impregnate the furniture. The paints or varnish used contain organic solvents which are also dangerous for us. The new ones must be kept open for several days before we use it.

Here I want to give one more good tip. It is applicable to new cars also. Do not close all the windows and sit there with air-conditioner on. You get all the poisons from the new plastic products there. Drive for few months with open windows.

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Sunday, October 11, 2009


The Food and Drug Administration which controls the cosmetics in United States of America gives a good definition to cosmetics; intended to be applied to the human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance without affecting the body’s structure or functions and any material used for that is a cosmetic product.

What are the cosmetics used to make us attractive, beautiful and pleasant?

They include the following:

Skin-care creams
Talcum Powders
Lotions
Perfumes
Lipsticks
Nail polishes
Eye and facial make up
Hair sprays and gels
Hair colours
Deodorants

All the products for the baby - bath salts, creams and oils

Many other local and natural herbs containing creams available in our world are also good.

Why do the women in western countries do more make up?

It is very easy to answer because of their white complexion they need some contrast colours in their face and without make-up it is not possible. Otherwise, they do not look good, few have decent make-up and very few do not use make-up at all. The majority use the hair colour and so the hair is not the indicator of natural beauty there. In Western countries, the young girls are almost addictive to cosmetics which bring social problems in the family, school and in the society

What about the cosmetics used by Indian women?

Whenever I meet a newly arrived young Indian woman in Germany all say that they have learnt as beautician. Now many women can afford to go to beauticians in India but exacerbation spoils their skin and beauty. Woman who cannot afford, wash with cold water, use the things which their mothers and grandmothers used and normally have healthy skin. A decent make up is good but at the end of the day it must be taken away in a professional way which is more important for your health. I am afraid most of them are not doing that!

Do you say all the cosmetics are important?

No, I did not tell that. We can differentiate care cosmetics from the decorative cosmetics. Even many manufacturers do this.

What are the effects of cosmetics on health?

Several people are against the allergy produced by cosmetics and others are against tests on animals.

Parabens, sodium lauryl sulphate and petroleum products may be harmful. Sodium lauryl sulphate causes skin problems. Parabens can cause skin irritation and skin allergies including contact allergies. It has also a weak estrogenic activity.

Synthetic fragrances are used in many cosmetics and the ingredients cause allergic reactions. Many other chemicals used are also allergic.

What are the different make up types?

As a chemist and clinical toxicologist I know a lot but as a woman you must know better than me. Do not forget, with lot of imagination and fantasy you need very little make up to be in the middle point.

Which countries have banned the test on animals?

It is banned now in Great Britain, Netherlands and Belgium. From 2009 it is also be banned in all the European Union countries.

Are there toxic substances found in cosmetics?

The toxic substances found in cosmetics are as follows:

• Wherever chemicals are used there will be problems. Here the known problem makers are phthalates in artificial fragrance and nail polishes.
• More than 20% of the cosmetics contain 1, 4-dioxane which causes cancer.
• Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives can cause irritation and allergic reactions and is a possible carcinogen.
• Parabens are preservatives found in many deodorants and skin-care products. This can cause reproductive damage (estrogenic activity) and have been detected in breast tumours.
• Propylene Glycol is a moisture retainer in skin-care products. It is a strong skin irritant, and causes liver problems and damage to kidney.
• Talc is closely related to carcinogen asbestos and its particles can cause tumours in the ovaries and lung cancer.
• There are several components in cosmetics which are not at all regulated and used chemicals and heavy metal may cause health problems. If you want you must use this but in small quantity and before go to bed remove them completely.

• P-Phynelenediamine used in hair dyes is also allergic to many. Do not exceed the applying time, never more than 15 min.

What is AHAs?

AHAs are often used in products claiming to reduce wrinkles or he signs of aging and improve the overall texture and feel of the skin. They are also used in chemical peels. Used in beauty and health centres and kits used in home. These are used in anti aging creams to smoothen your skin. But they destroy the skin and there by the chances of skin cancer is increasing. Avoid creams which contain AHAs (alpha hydroxy acids).

What are the side effects of AHAs?

The side effects include:

• Mild skin irritations
• Redness and flaking of the skin
• Blistering skin
• Burning skin
• Skin decolouration

• AHAs can increase the photosensitivity to the sun, increased risk for skin cancer.

One must be very careful.

Do not forget the beauty come from inside. Healthy food, life without stress, no alcohol and no tobacco are far better for anti aging than creams with or without AHAs.

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Wednesday, October 7, 2009


The coconut palm is grown throughout the tropics and the whole tree is useful to us.

What are the uses of coconut?

• Coconut is a good food with all the necessary nutrients.
• Almost every part of the coconut tree is useful to human beings.
• It is used in traditional medicine as well as in modern medicine. More than 50 applications are written in the literature which is still in use.

Why are the fatty acids of coconut healthy?

Coconut has less (30%) long chain saturated fatty acids but more (70%) short and medium chain saturated fatty acids and therefore it is healthy to make a good ratio of LDL and HDL.

What is your personal opinion?

Coconut is good and we all must eat. The reasons are as follows:

• It has 9% fibre.
• Coconut has the highest amount of selenium. It has 810µg Selenium per 100 g. Selenium is found in enzymes to remove the dangerous free radicals and also helps to remove the toxic heavy metals such as mercury from our body.
• All the other elements like potassium, magnesium, manganese, iron, copper, zinc and iodine are present.
• B vitamins, E and C are also present in coconut.

30 g of coconut chutney for idly or for methu vadai will not harm anybody. Normal amount could also be used in some other food preparations. In every preparation the food is diluted few times to several times and at the end we may be taking only few grams of long chain saturated fatty acids.

I met several people who are not at all using coconuts years together in India because of their high blood pressure or after the bypass heart operation. Interestingly many of them are still eating meat or poultry and why is coconut alone a villain? But to have things properly done care should be taken with coconut oil as well as with other oils in cooking. Other vegetable oils are also good and healthy. The dose makes always the poison.

But we must keep it always in mind that studies have shown virgin coconut oil has reduced the bad cholesterol and increased the good cholesterol. If we see the coconut belt throughout the world where coconuts are produced and eaten everyday without any adverse effects for the heart or other organs, then I ask myself whether some lobby groups are at work to sell their products which has no equal quality of coconut or coconut oil.

Here also I want to stress the importance of individual counselling.

What is virgin coconut oil?

Virgin coconut oil is made from fresh coconuts and from copra, the dried ones.

What will happen then to the excess coconut oil available in the market?

Coconut oil has several applications. It is used as bio-diesel for aeroplanes and to manufacture soap, cosmetics and creams. It is used in the medicine and as raw materials for paints and for industrial purpose. But I think it could be better to use it as food for persons who are poor than to any other industrial purpose.

What do you say about tender coconut water?

It is very good not only in summer but also in all seasons. Packed in the natural fatty container it is always pure and also has minerals and vitamins.

Has coconut cholesterol?

No. Coconut has no cholesterol. All plant foods have no cholesterol.

What is the connection between mother’s milk and coconut?

The fatty acids present in both mother’s milk and coconut are same in composition. The nature knows what we need. The reason is short and medium chain fatty acids are converted in the liver to give direct, immediate energy to the infant which important to live. Only the long chain fatty acids need the enzymes for the long digestion. Do we want to say mother’s milk is bad? Never.

What are the oils good for our Indian way of cooking?

Sesame oil, coconut oil and groundnut oil are the best oils to our way of cooking because they are heat stable.

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